Movies on iTunes?

[Mikuro]

Originally Posted by MnM

I play the video on the ipod and then using the apple av cable to play it to the tv. The video quality is extreemmely poor when stretched to 36 inch. Even on my 20 inch apple display the quality is bad when stretched.

Well, the iTMS now uses full SD (640x480) resolution. Not bad. Not the future, but not bad. Of course, people with old iPods are out of luck, as they do not have the hardware capabilities to play SD videos.

This is what Apple should have done from the start. Beginning with crappy 320x240 movies was a mistake, IMO. There are going to be a lot of angry "new" iPod owners now.



The movie service is basically what I expected, but I think it's not nearly good enough to make it a hit. The pricing is no better than DVDs, and there are so many disadvantages (DRM, probably worse quality, poor hardware/software support, etc.). I'm the kind of person who rips DVDs to my computer and actually likes watching movies on my computer, but there's still no way I'll use this service. It just doesn't add any value besides a little convenience. I'm sure that'll be good enough for a few people here and there, but I doubt it'll be a hit, and I doubt anyone will choose this as their only/primary means of buying movies.

With songs, iTunes really added value by allowing you to buy only one song at a time for a reasonable price. That's something you just can't get with conventional stores. And there are plenty of people who will never buy another CD after using iTunes. Same for TV shows. But for movies....nope. It just doesn't apply. That's why, IMHO, they really needed to win on price with movies, and unfortunately, they haven't done that.

I don't think it'll fail miserably, but I don't think it'll be a hit. I don't think it'll even make waves.

[mindbend]

This definitely isn't the be-all end-all of movie downloads, but it's a good first step. I'm sure Apple's hands were tied on many levels with Hollywood. And other issues may just be more technical.

But where this neds to be in a few years is 1080P downloads for $9.99 (new or old) with a complete library. You get there and you can basically say goodbye to Blockbuster and Netflix. It's going to be a while though, but it's the future for sure.

[MnM]

I personally will buy one just to try it. I doubt i will be contented with the quality. I think they should have at least start it off with 720 HD support and then upgrade to full HD. The thing with full HD is that it takes up tons of space on ur ipod...which will suck. To address this issue they could have offer full HD and build a video resizer into itunes to resize videos specifcally for ur ipod. That would give high quality for your tv...and won't kill the space on your ipod.

[fryke]

I've been transcoding my DVD library to MPEG-4 and H.264 for a long time, and I've found 640*x to be adequate. 720*x increases the file size, but the end result, watching the files on a video beamer, is not _that_ much of a difference. 512*x is too low, but 640*x is "good enough".

If you're looking around, it doesn't look like HD-DVD or BluRay are going to take off like rockets anytime soon. So "DVD quality" is not so bad for now. I'm sure we'll have HD movies on iTMS before 2008 as well.

The only thing I _really_ don't like is that iTunes doesn't like my .avi's, so I have to actually open the files in QuickTime and save them as .mov's without the data (i.e. links) to trick iTunes into thinking it can read the files. Works, but I end up with a link for every movie. So... I'll either have to re-encode or simply use FrontRow to watch them instead of using them in iTunes. I guess I still hope there'll be a day when iTunes can read the files Quicktime can.

[pishnaris]

Looking downstream a couple of years might show us that software/hardware will have progressed to the point that HD movies will be downloaded, playable only on the machine/owner that was made the purchase, will be DVD recordable for playback on that machine only, and will significantly reduce the price of purchasing the product.

The entertainment industry will have to come to grips with the ability of people to rip current DVDs, or trade them cheaply, as LaLa is now doing with CDs (totally beats the RIAA, and is completely legal).

The industry is going to be compelled to rely on digital downloading to sell their product. That will spawn nearly unbreakable protection schemes, making the distribution medium profitable.

It's gotta happen for movies, and music, too. High-speed downloads; high-power encryption; no more middle-man. Might even make it affordable. But how can you beat rentals for now?

[MnM]

I was curious to see what the new resolution apple is offering would look like. Naturally I would have easily made a 640x480 of a movie I own and see what it looks. As it turns out, I don't have the time to do so right now.

Luckily for me I found this: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/M...62489&s=143441

I'm downloading it right now. Its a free episode of a new disney show name "the replacements". Its animated but at least some of us who are curious about quality gets a chance to see what it looks like. The quality of cartoon animations and real video may differ, but its still better than nothing and its free.

[MnM]

Just saw the quality. Its not that bad considering I had it full screen on an apple 20 inch display. As for the actual TV show I didn't look at it. Its childish and I can see why its free.

[ADDABAD]

I HAVE AN IBOOK G4 WITH OS X 10.5. BUT CAN NO LONGER PLAY NOVIES A MUSIC VIDROS FULL SCTRRN. SLL THAT PLAYS ISA LITTLE BOX. CAN YOU HELP ME?
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